Life IS a Choice

A woman who had her first child as a teenager is being lauded as a champion for women, "giving voice to thousands of Texans." I am saddened and so disheartened that, though I do not know the entire history of this story (and I freely admit that), I do know enough to find this ironic. She "chose" to keep her baby, raise her in a trailer park (and be proud of her "working poor" background, as she should be) and then claim to be a voice for thousands of Texans?! Who is the voice for the babies being murdered because they are inconvenient, not chosen, unaffordable or too difficult? 

As I expressed in my first blog entry, this medium for me is not for others. It is for me and maybe my children one day. It is a way to release to the cosmos those things I cannot keep inside. I feel so strongly about this that it would be wrong of me to keep silent. 

As a Texan today, I am ashamed of what we think is "good," "right," and "strong." How can people post on Facebook that "as a Christian, I do not believe in abortion, but as a woman, I believe in the right to choose what happens to my body?" You cannot separate being a Christian and being a woman, just as you cannot separate being a man and being married, or being a man and being gay, or being a woman and being a mother. 

What happened to our sense of basic responsibility? You choose to behave a certain way, there are consequences. Always--whether or not the decision was a good, bad or indifferent one. That's a law of nature. Why is it permissible now to do what feels good, what you want to, what makes YOU happy or safe or popular or brave? Why don't others matter, the ones affected by your choices?

As a quote from one of the articles:

"[She] read testimony from women and doctors who would be impacted by the changes, but who were denied the opportunity to speak in a Republican-controlled committee. During one heart-wrenching story describing a woman's difficult pregnancy, [she] choked up several times and wiped tears.

The bill would ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy and force many clinics that perform the procedure to upgrade their facilities and be classified as ambulatory surgical centers. Also, doctors would be required to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles – a tall order in rural communities."

I am not arguing against health care for women. Clearly. I am a woman. :) I want health care, and I want it to be good. I like feeling confident in my care and wish every woman (and man and child, for that matter) experienced the same care as I do. However, I believe the issues are separate. You cannot catch your abortion as health care. It is not. It is murder. When you choose to participate in an act that could (by miracle of miracles!) result in a human life, that was your choice. You chose life, do you not see that? And then to deny that baby a chance to live outside the womb is not caring for your health. It's caring for everything BUT your health. 

Drawn from several sources, these are some of the facts regarding abortion. The most shocking of all is that most women (72%) who have abortions are already mothers. The following is just a sample list. . .

Over 48 million people have been killed through abortion in the United States since the Roe vs. Wade decision.

Abortion worldwide kills more people every 2 months than the Holocaust did in 12 years.

Almost 1 out of every 4 Americans babies are aborted.

Abortion is inherently unsafe to the mother.

Physical problems from abortion can include hemorrhage, infection, sterility and even death.

Psychological effects can include depression and mental trauma to divorce and suicide.

The psychological effects of an abortion are so well documented, that psychologists have grouped them under one name: post-abortion syndrome (PAS). 

Women may experience symptoms of PAS right after the abortion, but oftentimes PAS does not manifest itself until many months or years after the abortion.

Symptoms of PAS are: recurrent memories, dreams of the abortion experience, avoidance of emotional attachment, relationship problems, sleep disturbance, guilt, memory impairment, hostile outbursts, and substance abuse.